

Education System of
Pakistan: Issues, Prob-
lems and Solutions
REG IO NS 02/03/2015

Introduction

It is mandated in the Constitution of

Pakistan to provide free and compulsory
education to all children between the ages
of 5-16 years and enhance adult literacy.
With the 18th constitutional amendment
the concurrent list which comprised of 47
subjects was abolished and these subjects,
including education, were transferred to
federating units as a move towards
provincial autonomy.

The year 2015 is important in the context

that it marks the deadline for the
participants of Dakar declaration
(Education For All [EFA] commitment)
including Pakistan. Education related
statistics coupled with Pakistan’s progress
regarding education targets set in Vision
2030 and Pakistan’s lagging behind in
achieving EFA targets and its Millennium
Development Goals(MDGs) for education
call for an analysis of the education system
of Pakistan and to look into the issues and
problems it is facing so that workable
solutions could be recommended.
What is Education System?

The system of education includes all

institutions that are involved in delivering
formal education (public and private, for-
profit and nonprofit, onsite or virtual
instruction) and their faculties, students,
physical infrastructure, resources and
rules. In a broader definition the system
also includes the institutions that are
directly involved in financing, managing,
operating or regulating such institutions
(like government ministries and regulatory
bodies, central testing organizations,
textbook boards and accreditation boards).
The rules and regulations that guide the
individual and institutional interactions
within the set up are also part of the
education system.

Education system of Pakistan:

The education system of Pakistan is

comprised of 260,903 institutions and is
facilitating 41,018,384 students with the
help of 1,535,461 teachers. The system
includes 180,846 public institutions and
80,057 private institutions. Hence 31%
educational institutes are run by private
sector while 69% are public institutes.

Analysis of education system in Pakistan

Pakistan has expressed its commitment to

promote education and literacy in the
country by education policies at domestic
level and getting involved into
international commitments on education.
In this regard national education policies
are the visions which suggest strategies to
increase literacy rate, capacity building,
and enhance facilities in the schools and
educational institutes. MDGs and EFA
programmes are global commitments of
Pakistan for the promotion of literacy.

A review of the education system of

Pakistan suggests that there has been little
change in Pakistan’s schools since 2010,
when the 18th Amendment enshrined
education as a fundamental human right in
the constitution. Problems of access,
quality, infrastructure and inequality of
opportunity, remain endemic.

Issues

A) MDGs and Pakistan

Due to the problems in education system of

Pakistan, the country is lagging behind in
achieving its MDGs of education. The MDGs
have laid down two goals for education
sector:

Goal 2: The goal 2 of MDGs is to achieve

Universal Primary Education (UPE) and by
2015, children everywhere, boys and girls
alike, will be able to complete a full course
of primary schooling. By the year 2014 the
enrolment statistics show an increase in
the enrolment of students of the age of 3-
16 year while dropout rate decreased. But
the need for increasing enrolment of
students remains high to achieve MDGs
target. Punjab is leading province wise in
net primary enrolment rate with 62%
enrolment. The enrolment rate in Sindh
province is 52%, in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa
(KPK) 54% and primary enrolment rate in
Balochistan is 45%.

Goal 3: The goal 3 of MDGs is Promoting

Gender Equality and Women
Empowerment. It is aimed at eliminating
gender disparity in primary and secondary
education by 2005 and in all levels of
education not later than 2015. There is a
stark disparity between male and female
literacy rates. The national literacy rate of
male was 71% while that of female was
48% in 2012-13. Provinces reported the
same gender disparity. Punjab literacy rate
in male was 71% and for females it was
54%. In Sindh literacy rate in male was
72% and female 47%, in KPK male 70%
and females 35%, while in Balochistan
male 62% and female 23%.

B) Education for All (EFA) Commitment

The EFA goals focus on early childhood

care and education including pre-
schooling, universal primary education and
secondary education to youth, adult
literacy with gender parity and quality of
education as crosscutting thematic and
programme priorities.

EFA Review Report October 2014 outlines

that despite repeated policy commitments,
primary education in Pakistan is lagging
behind in achieving its target of universal
primary education. Currently the primary
gross enrolment rate stands at 85.9% while
Pakistan requires increasing it up to 100%
by 2015-16 to fulfil EFA goals. Of the
estimated total primary school going 21.4
million children of ages 5-9 years, 68.5%
are enrolled in schools, of which 8.2 million
or 56% are boys and 6.5 million or 44% are
girls. Economic Survey of Pakistan
confirms that during the year 2013-14
literacy remained much higher in urban
areas than in rural areas and higher among
males.

C) Vision 2030

Vision 2030 of Planning Commission of

Pakistan looks for an academic
environment which promotes the thinking
mind. The goal under Vision 2030 is one
curriculum and one national examination
system under state responsibility. The
strategies charted out to achieve the goal
included:

(i) Increasing public expenditure

on education and skills generation from
2.7% of GDP to 5% by 2010 and 7% by 2015.

(ii) Re-introduce the technical and

vocational stream in the last two years of
secondary schools.

(iii) Gradually increase vocational

and technical education numbers to 25-
30% of all secondary enrolment by 2015
and 50 per cent by 2030.

(iv) Enhance the scale and quality of

education in general and the scale and
quality of scientific/technical education in
Pakistan in particular.

Problems: The issues lead to the

comprehension of the problems which are
faced in the development of education
system and promotion of literacy. The
study outlines seven major problems such
as:
1) Lack of Proper Planning: Pakistan is a
signatory to MDGs and EFA goals. However
it seems that it will not be able to achieve
these international commitments because
of financial management issues and
constraints to achieve the MDGs and EFA
goals.

2) Social constraints: It is important to

realize that the problems which hinder the
provision of education are not just due to
issues of management by government but
some of them are deeply rooted in the
social and cultural orientation of the
people. Overcoming the latter is di"cult
and would require a change in attitude of
the people, until then universal primary
education is di"cult to achieve.

3) Gender gap: Major factors that hinder

enrolment rates of girls include poverty,
cultural constraints, illiteracy of parents
and parental concerns about safety and
mobility of their daughters. Society’s
emphasis on girl’s modesty, protection and
early marriages may limit family’s
willingness to send them to school.
Enrolment of rural girls is 45% lower than
that of urban girls; while for boys the
di#erence is 10% only, showing that
gender gap is an important factor.

4) Cost of education: The economic cost

is higher in private schools, but these are
located in richer settlements only. The
paradox is that private schools are better
but not everywhere and government
schools ensure equitable access but do not
provide quality education.
5) War on Terror: Pakistan’s
engagement in war against terrorism also
a#ected the promotion of literacy
campaign. The militants targeted schools
and students; several educational
institutions were blown up, teachers and
students were killed in Balochistan, KPK
and FATA. This may have to contribute not
as much as other factors, but this remains
an important factor.

6) Funds for Education: Pakistan spends

2.4% GDP on education. At national level,
89% education expenditure comprises of
current expenses such as teachers’ salaries,
while only 11% comprises of development
expenditure which is not su"cient to raise
quality of education.

7) Technical Education: Su"cient

attention has not been paid to the technical
and vocational education in Pakistan. The
number of technical and vocational
training institutes is not su"cient and
many are deprived of infrastructure,
teachers and tools for training. The
population of a state is one of the main
elements of its national power. It can
become an asset once it is skilled. Unskilled
population means more jobless people in
the country, which a#ects the national
development negatively. Therefore,
technical education needs priority handling
by the government.

Poverty, law and order situation, natural

disasters, budgetary constraints, lack of
access, poor quality, equity, and
governance have also contributed in less
enrolments.

An analysis of the issues and problems

suggest that:

The o"cial data shows the allocation of

funds for educational projects but there is
no mechanism which ensures the proper
expenditure of those funds on education.

The existing infrastructure is not being

properly utilized in several parts of the
country.

There are various challenges that

include expertise, institutional and
capacity issues, forging national
cohesion, uniform standards for
textbook development, and quality
assurance.

The faculty hiring process is historically

known to be politicized. It is because of
this that the quality of teaching su#ers
and even more so when low investments
are made in teachers’ training. As a
result teachers are not regular and their
time at school is not as productive as it
would be with a well-trained teacher.

Inside schools there are challenges

which include shortage of teachers,
teacher absenteeism, missing basic
facilities and lack of friendly
environment.

Out of school challenges include

shortage of schools, distance –
especially for females, insecurity,
poverty, cultural norms, parents are
reluctant or parents lack awareness.

Solutions
There is a need for implementation of
national education policy and vision 2030
education goals. An analysis of education
policy suggests that at the policy level there
are several admirable ideas, but practically
there are some shortcomings also.

It may not be possible for the government

at the moment to implement uniform
education system in the country, but a
uniform curriculum can be introduced in
educational institutes of the country. This
will provide equal opportunity to the
students of rural areas to compete with
students of urban areas in the job market.

Since majority of Pakistani population

resides in rural areas and the access to
education is a major problem for them, it
seems feasible that a balanced approach for
formal and informal education be adopted.
Government as well as non-government
sector should work together to promote
education in rural areas.

The government should take measures to

get school buildings vacated which are
occupied by feudal lords of Sindh,
Balochistan and Punjab. E#orts should be
made to ensure that proper education is
provided in those schools.

The federal government is paying attention

to the vocational and technical training,
but it is important to make the already
existing vocational and technical training
centres more e"cient so that skilled youth
could be produced.

Since education is a provincial subject, the

provincial education secretariats need to be
strengthened. Special policy planning units
should be established in provinces’
education departments for implementation
of educational policies and formulation of
new policies whenever needed. The
provincial education departments need to
work out financial resources required for
realising the compliance of Article 25-A.

Federal Government should play a

supportive role vis-à-vis the provinces for
the early compliance of the constitutional
obligation laid down in Article 25-A.
Special grants can be provided to the
provinces where the literacy rate is low.

Pakistan is not the only country which is

facing challenges regarding promotion of
literacy and meeting EFA and MDGs
commitments. Education remains a subject
which is paid least attention in the whole
South Asian region. UNDP report 2014
suggests that there has been an
improvement in other elements of human
development such as life expectancy, per
capita income and human development
index value (in past 3 years); but there has
been no progress in the number of
schooling years. The expected average for
years of schooling in 2010 was 10.6 years
but the actual average of schooling
remained 4.7 for all South Asian countries.
In the year 2013 the expected average of
number of years increased to 11.2 but the
actual average of years of schooling of
South Asian countries remained 4.7.
Regional cooperation mechanism can also
be developed to promote literacy in South
Asian region. Sharing success stories,
making country-specific modifications and
their implementation can generate positive
results.

Recommendations
Technical education should be made a
part of secondary education. Classes for
carpentry, electrical, and other technical
education must be included in the
curriculum.

Providing economic incentives to the

students may encourage the parents to
send their children to school and may
help in reducing the dropout ratio.

Local government system is helpful in

promoting education and literacy in the
country. In local government system the
funds for education would be spent on a
need basis by the locality.

Corruption in education departments is

one of the factors for the poor literacy in
the country. An e#ective monitoring
system is needed in education
departments.

For any system to work it is imperative

that relevant structures are developed.
Legislation and structure should be
framed to plan for the promotion of
education in the country. After the 18th
amendment the education has become a
provincial subject, therefore, the
provinces should form legislations and
design educational policies which
ensure quality education.

Unemployment of educated men and

women is a major concern for Pakistan.
There should be career counselling of
the pupils in schools so that they have
an understanding of job market and
they can develop their skills accordingly.

Counselling of parents is required, so

that they can choose a career for their
child which is market friendly.

There are two approaches to acquiring

education: First, which is being followed
 by many in Pakistan is to get education
to earn bread and butter. The second
approach is to get education for the sake
of personal development and learning.
This approach is followed by a$uent
and economically stable people who
send their children to private schools
and abroad for education. The problem
arises when non-a$uent families send
their children to private schools, and
universities. This aspiration for sending
children for higher education is wrong,
because the country does not need
managers and o"cers only. There are
several other jobs where people are
needed. Hence the mind-set of sending
one’s children to university only for
becoming o"cers and managers needs
to be changed.

Conclusion:

The reforms required in the education

system of Pakistan cannot be done by the
government alone, public-private
participation and a mix of formal as well as
non-formal education can pull out
majority of country’s population from
illiteracy. Similarly, to make the youth of
the country an asset, attention should also
be paid to vocational and technical
training.

References:

Human Development Report 2014

“Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing
Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience,”
United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) (New York: UNDP, 2014).

Mehnaz Aziz et al, “Education System

Reform in Pakistan: Why, When, and
How?” IZA Policy Paper No. 76, January
2014 (Institute for the Study of Labor,
2014), P 4.

Annual Report: Pakistan Education

Statistics 2011-12, National Education
Management Information System Academy
of Educational Planning and Management,
Ministry of Education, Trainings &
Standards in Higher Education,
Government of Pakistan, (Islamabad,
AEPAM, 2013).

Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014,

Ministry of Finance, Government of
Pakistan.

Pakistan: Education for All 2015 National

Review, Ministry of Education, Trainings
and Standards in Higher Education
Academy of Educational Planning and
Management Islamabad, Pakistan June,
2014 (available at :
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/0
02297/229718E.pdf).

Maliha Naveed, Reasons of Low Levels of

Education in Pakistan, Pakistan Herald,
January 03, 2013 (available at:
http://www.pakistanherald.com/articles/re
asons-of-low-levels-of-education-in-
pakistan-3065).

“Pakistan may miss EFA goals by 2015-16:

Report,” Daily Nation, October, 3, 2014.

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